The One Thing That Annoys Robert Pattinson About the Twilight Franchise

Four years after soaring to unprecedented heights of vampire-related fame, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have begun the final laps of promotion for the Twilight films, the last of which opens in theaters on November 15. On Monday, Stewart—freed from uncomfortable interactive perfume interviews—arrived in Japan to market Breaking Dawn—Part 2, while Robert Pattinson kicked off promotional duties in Australia. There, he reportedly participated in a “sexy photo shoot,” a fan event, and an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, during which he meditated on one an unsavory aspect of his star-making blockbuster franchise.

Discussing the boundary-blurring nature of Twilightculture, which often seems as focused on his real-life relationship with Stewart as on Twilight itself, Pattinson explained, “That’s the one thing I’ve been annoyed about by the whole thing. . .The kind of ‘team’ aspect of it”—in which fans ally themselves with “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob.” “I think that’s what has created a very strange atmosphere around how the movies are promoted and stuff. It’s making it like a sport or something. People can’t really watch the films any more because they’re thinking about all this other silliness.”

The silliness got super-silly this summer, when he and Stewart's relationship became the focus of intense press and fan scrutiny, leading to an awkward string of* *Cosmopolis-related promotional appearances. Several months later, Pattinson seems to have come to terms with the fact that he cannot control his image, or separate his personal life from his public persona, through interviews. “It’s really not up to you, you could talk about absolutely nothing, the editor is going to put it however they want anyway. It’s part of the thing where you reveal what you want to reveal and you talk about what you want to talk about. People ask you about whatever they think the audience is interested in and you can’t really dictate.”

Following theTwilight franchise’s grand finale next month, Pattinson will steer his career into more dramatic, less tween-targeting territory. IMDb notes that the actor is currently slated to star in a thriller with Carey Mulligan, a Western with Guy Pearce, and Werner Herzog’s biography of Gertrude Bell alongside Naomi Watts in 2013.